Licensed Mental Health Professional Early Registration $100
Pre-Licensed/Student Early Registration $75
Early Registration Discount ends December 10
Regular/Onsite Registration after December 10th is $125 for licensed professionals and $85 for pre-licensed/students.
Registration ends 48 hours before the event.
In-person attendees, please arrive 15 minutes before the event starts to allow adequate time for parking and sign-in. We will begin promptly at the start time for our Zoom attendees.
Course Description
Despite the centrality of the developing sexual body/mind in adolescence, the psychoanalytic literature on erotic transference and countertransference related to this period is notably sparse. Erotic feelings in the consulting room with adolescents can feel taboo, causing the analyst to avoid the immediacy of these feelings. Excessive timidity on the part of the analyst can limit the growth of the capacity for containment of sexual feelings and yield what I term ‘erotic insufficiency’. I offer clinical material from a period of erotic transference and countertransference with a 12-year-old boy to consider these ideas. I suggest that the very terms ‘erotic transference’ and ‘erotic countertransference’ can feel defensively remote and antiseptic. I suggest that ‘erotic field’ better captures the subtle, nuanced interplay of feelings. The topic of erotic transference/countertransference in the treatment of adolescents is clearly a gap in the psychoanalytic literature and attention to this area should improve patient care by helping therapists to process these feelings more comfortably while maintaining clear limits.
Discussant Anne Alvarez has written an important paper on working with erotic transference in children and adolescents that focuses on patients who are arriving to treatment with sexualized symptoms, for instance children/adolescents who have been sexually abused. My paper by contrast focuses on the development of an erotic treatment within the intensity of ongoing analytic work.
Educational Objectives
Upon completion of this activity participants should be able to:
1. Explain what is meant by the term ‘erotic insufficiency.
2. Describe the value of using the term “erotic field” to conceptualize the sensitive erotic experiences arising in the treatment of adolescents.
3. Identify the issues particular to the erotic transference/countertransference in the treatment of adolescents.
4. Differentiate between the sexualized symptoms of patients with a prior history of sexual abuse and the erotic feelings arising within the intensity of ongoing analytic work.
Licensed Professional —
Early Registration $100
After December 10 $125
Pre Licensed/Student —
Early Registration $75
After December 10 $85
3 CEs offered
Program Committee
Thomas P. Helscher, Ph.D., Chair
Lisa B. Crilley, LMFT, Co-Chair
Committee Members
Scott Shapiro, Psy.D.
Sandra Wilder-Padilla, Ph.D.
Rachel Katz
Dimitri Gatsiounis, LMFT
Simone Kiboudi, LPC
Lauren O’Connell, LMFT
Instructor Bios
Dr Mary Brady, PhD, FIPA, is an adult and child psychoanalyst practicing in San Francisco. On the Faculties of the San Francisco Center for Psychoanalysis and the Psychoanalytic Institute of Northern California, she is the recipient of the American Psychoanalytic Association’s Roughton Award for her writing. Her book, Psychoanalysis with Adolescents and Children: Learning to Surf, is forthcoming from Routledge. She is the Editor of Braving the Erotic Field in the Treatment of Children and Adolescents (Routledge, 2022). She is also the author of Analytic Engagements with Adolescents and The Body in Adolescence (Routledge in 2018 and 2016, respectively). She is the North American Co-Chair of the Committee on Child and Adolescent Psychoanalysis (COCAP) of the IPA. She has co-led a Psychoanalysis and Film group for a decade.
Dr Anne Alvarez, PhD, M.A.C.P is a Consultant Child and Adolescent Psychotherapist (and retired Co-Convener of the Autism Service, Child and Family Dep't. Tavistock Clinic, London, where she still teaches.). She is the author of Live Company: Psychotherapy with Autistic, Borderline, Deprived and Abused Children and has edited with Susan Reid, Autism and Personality: Findings from the Tavistock Autism Workshop. A book in her honor, edited by Judith Edwards, entitled Being Alive: Building on the Work of Anne Alvarez, was published in 2002. She was Visiting Professor at the San Francisco Psychoanalytic Society in November 2005 and is an Honorary Member of the Psychoanalytic Centre of California. Her latest book, The Thinking Heart: Three Levels of Psychoanalytic Therapy with Disturbed Children, was published in April 2012 by Routledge. A book by Galit Gampel on Alvarez in a series on influential thinkers in psychoanalysis is in preparation for Routledge.
Target Audience
This program is on an advanced level and meets the needs of all mental health professionals, including Psychiatrists, Psychologists, Social Workers, and Marriage and Family Therapists. CE Credit is offered for licensed psychologists, social workers, and marriage and family therapists.
CE Credit Information
Important Disclosure: All planners, faculty, staff and others involved with this activity have reported no relevant financial relationships with ineligible companies whose primary business is producing, marketing, selling, re-selling, or distributing healthcare products used by or on patients.
This activity has not received commercial support.
Accreditation Statements
Board of Behavioral Sciences: The California Board of Behavioral Sciences accepts courses approved by the APA for Continuing Education for LCSW, LMFT, LPCC and LEP licenses.
To Earn Credit: Participants must complete an online evaluation within two weeks of completing each session of this CE activity in order to receive credit.
Attention Psychologists: Psychologists can earn a maximum of 3 CE credits for this program. Partial credit may not be awarded, based on APA guidelines
Refunds/Cancellations: Refunds, less a $10 administrative fee, will be made if cancellation notification is phoned or postmarked three (3) business days in advance of this program. There will be no refunds on requests received after the refund deadline. Full refunds are made in the event that LAISPS must cancel this program.
Returned Checks: A $35.00 service charge will be assessed for checks returned by the bank.
Confidentiality: By registering for this educational event, attendees agree to strictly maintain confidentiality of any clinical material shared and will not distribute or convey such confidential material outside of the conference.
Covid-19 Protocol: Attendees are requested to have a negative home test the morning of or evening before class, and to stay home if they are experiencing symptoms or have recently been socially exposed
Virtual Meeting Services This program will be presented via Zoom Video Conferencing. The Zoom login ID will be provided no later than the night before the program is scheduled. Please make sure to provide LAISPS with the email address you want your login information sent to. Please let us know 48 hours in advance if you are switching to zoom from in person.